Activism & Community Involvement

Below are the advocacy and volunteer activities in which i’ve been involved over the years. Even though it sounds cliché, each has had an impact on me and helped form the person i am today. I’m fortunate to have been able to engage in them all.

Also related are the importance in my life of advocacy related to youth and antiracism.

Undoing Racism Organizing Committee, Washington, DC

•Member of a small collective organizing Undoing Racism trainings, which focus on the individual, cultural, and structural aspects of racism in the US •Work to identify dates and locations for trainings •Coordinate logistics of local ground transportation for out-of-town trainers •Communicate with staff at the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond in New Orleans, the organization that provides the trainers and the training curriculum •Ensure that the trainers’ needs are met during training days •Provide support for trainees •2014-Present.

Bridging Cultural Gaps, Hyattsville, MD

•Community-based book group reading works and watching films focused on issuesof racism, ethnocentrism, and classism in the Americas •Monthly meetings have focused on works such as Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow; Andrea Stuart’s Sugar in the Blood; Debby Irving’s Waking Up White; Charles R. Epp, et. al.’s Pulled Over; Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns; and the films The House I Live In, Claudine, and Slavery by Another Name •2013-Present.

•This program supports gender non-conforming children and their families •Volunteer with monthly children’s play group •Encourage feminine boys’ and masculine girls’ gender expression in play activities •Facilitate the children’s connections with each other •2007-Present.

•During the conference, provided support for and engaged in activities with trans children/tweens, siblings of trans youth, and children/tweens of trans parents •Supervised lunch, activities, crafts, and movie time •Performed improvisational puppet show •Helped with “Superhero Parade,” during which the children showed off their homemade superhero costumes and were cheered on by adult conference attendees •Helped with one 2.5 hour block/day while also attending regular conference sessions •2011-2012.

DC Trans Coalition, Washington, DC

•DCTC works on issues relevant to the daily lives of trans and gender non-
conforming people in DC, including relations with the police department, the treatment of trans and gender non-conforming inmates in DC’s jail, and enforcement of the city’s non-discrimination laws •Facilitated semi-monthly meetings •Maintained meeting agendas •Trained Metropolitan Police Department recruits •Gave “Know Your Rights” trainings •Contributed to group discussions •Took notes at community forums •2008-2015.

•Read five-ten anonymous youth-written screenplays, stories, and poems on masculinity for an annual competition •Ranked and gave feedback on entries to help with selection of semi-finalists •2008-2014.